Lost
by patricia51
Summary: The second time Lucy snuck into Amy's bedroom she was a step too slow getting out. Now Amy may     have forever lost the girl she loves. Can she find her and get her back? Femslash. Amy/Lucy.
1. Confrontation

Lost - Chapter One

(The second time Lucy snuck into Amy's bedroom she was a step too slow getting out. Now Amy may have forever lost the girl she loves. Can she find her and get her back? Femslash. Amy/Lucy)

(Confrontation)

"Hey."

For a moment Amy froze before turning to look. Lucy was standing there, the open window behind her showing where she had entered. Again. "How do you do that?" she asked.

"For a top secret installation your security is really for shit," the dark-haired intruder said off-handedly.

"You can't be here."

"Oh I know." The villainess smiled as she sauntered towards Amy but the blonde could see the uncertainty underlying the dark-haired girl's swaggering confidence." You say you can't see me and then I see you anyway. It's kinda this whole game we play."

"Get out." Amy tried to be firm, even though she was quaking inside.

"Come on." Lucy reasoned with the girl. "Is this about your friends? 'Cause if it is I can just talk to them, you know, we can work out some sort of detente type thing."

"I said get out. I'm warning you."

"Amy," Lucy protested as she took another step towards the blonde.

Amy hit the panic button and an alarm shrilled through the house.

"You have to go now."

Lucy looked around in disbelief before fixing her gaze back on Amy. "Your stupid friends," she erupted. "Why don't you just think for yourself for a change?"

The bedroom door crashed open. Max, Dominique and Janet poured in, armed to the teeth and ready for anything. Lucy spun towards the window in one fluid motion, and then hesitated for a second, her eyes searching Amy's before she dove out the way she had come in just as Max opened fire.

Amy covered her mouth and held her breath. Max rushed to the window, the muzzle of her revolver leading the way. She looked out and down and grunted in satisfaction.

"Got her!"

There was a moment of wild confusion and colliding bodies as Amy attempted to make her way to the window while the other three Debs made for the door. Finally her way cleared as the trio thundered down the stairs and out the front door. Her heart in her throat, she reeled to the window and looked down. Then that heart nearly stopped as she took in the crumpled form sprawled on the lawn.

For one desperate moment Amy hoped that maybe this was one of Lucy's tricks, that it really wasn't her laying there. But the appearance of Max and her cry of triumph as she pushed the body with her foot, making it roll slightly and revealing Lucy's face ended the chance this wasn't happening.

Amy wanted to scream, to cry out as the pain that hit her so hard her knees gave way. Instead the world swam around her and she gratefully surrendered to a dark world where Lucy Diamond wasn't bleeding her life out just below her.

When she opened her eyes she was on her bed with Janet was bending over her with a look of concern in her eyes. An EMT standing next to her was closing up his kit.

"She'll be alright," he advised Janet. "Keep her calm and make her rest."

"What happened?" Amy asked groggily as she tried to sit up. Janet pushed her back down as Amy realized her head was throbbing.

"You fainted and hit your head on the window sill on your way down. No stitches but you're going to have a really BAD headache for a while."

"Lucy!" Amy tried to sit up again. This time she didn't need Janet to push her back down; she collapsed with a wince as the world spun around again.

"They've taken Lucy to the hospital, the regional trauma center. She's in surgery now." Janet hesitated. "I won't lie Amy, she's in critical condition. I was told she has on a fifty-fifty chance of making it."

Tears filled the blonde's eyes. "This is all my fault."

"No it's not. She came here."

"She came here to try to get me back. And that wouldn't have been necessary had I not decided that being a DEB was more important than her."

Janet couldn't think of an answer to that. Instead she left, knowing there was nothing she could do except try to find out how Lucy was. She went to her room and tried once again to get Scud online but there was no response.

The hours and then the days drug by one after another. Endgame finally came and thankfully went. Amy tried to beg out of that gala affair but the pressure to go was too great. Fortunately her recounting of her "heroic ordeal" was no longer the high point of the affair. That attention was showered on Max who had upheld the "highest traditions of the organization" in bringing "the notorious master criminal known as Lucy Diamond" to justice. Amy didn't care. She just used the evening to find out the latest about Lucy's condition.

"Still in a coma" was the word she got, finding things out bit by bit from anyone she could get to talk to her that wasn't aware of what the true state of affairs between her and Lucy had been. Still on the critical list. But there were signs that she was showing some improvement. She was breathing on her own now and responding to some forms of stimulus

Maybe there was hope Amy told herself. Maybe she WOULD get the chance to make things right with Lucy. Faced with losing the other girl forever had made the blonde take a good look at herself and what she had nearly thrown away. It would be different if only Lucy came out of the coma. Somehow Amy would make it right.

The next morning Amy was trying once more to figure a way to get away from the others and the school and slip into the hospital. She had to see Lucy even if it was only to sit by her bed, hold her hand and talk to her. She still hadn't come up with a way yet. She knew that if even a hint of what she was planning got out to Bobby or the other Debs and she would never have a chance to get near Lucy. The same thing applied to her getting caught trying to sneak in to the hospital. She was still running plans through her mind when Janet flew in the door without even pretending to knock.

"Oh my GOD!" the other girl exclaimed.

"What is it?" Amy knew she sounded panicked. Was something wrong with Lucy?

"They just called from the security wing at the hospital. Lucy's gone."

"Gone?"

"Escaped, flew the coop, disappeared," Janet amplified.

"She's in a coma," protested Amy. "How could she escape?"

"I have no idea but when the morning shift of Homeland Security agents arrived they found the night shift guards unconscious and Lucy's bed empty."

As the pair stared at each other Janet's cell phone began to sing.

"Hello?"

The shorter girl's eyes opened wide. "You! Where have you been? I've been trying to get in touch with you for days. Did you know Lucy has vanished from the hospital? Oh, you do? You did WHAT?"

"Who is it?" Amy demanded, even though she knew she could make a pretty good guess.

"It's Scud," replied the other DEB in a dazed voice. "And he wants to talk to you."

Amy snatched the phone. "Scud? Where are you? Where's Lucy?"

The normally friendly voice of the up-till-now cheerful right hand assistant and best friend to Lucy was as cold as ice as he spoke. "She's somewhere where she's safe Bradshaw. And I intend to keep her that way."

"Scud I didn't mean for any of this to happen," pleaded Amy.

"Sure you didn't. I've already seen the reports. Maybe you didn't pull the trigger yourself but if it wasn't for you none of this would have happened. Someone else besides you pushed the alarm button that called in the troops, is that what you're trying to tell me? "

The shock that Scud had access somehow to the DEBS file nearly drove Amy to silence. She looked at Janet with accusing eyes. The other girl, who had been listening, met Amy's gaze and shook her head, indicating she had not been the one to leak how Lucy came to be shot.

"I pushed it but..."

"But nothing. I thought you were different. I thought you loved Lucy. She told me you told her that. But you're a perfect liar aren't you?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You can claim you don't know but it's not as if I could trust anything you say. Lucy did. That's why she nearly died. But in case you might just be telling the truth for a change you need to find out just what that hidden test measures. And it's not 'spy stuff'."

Amy heard Scud draw a deep breath. "That's not important right now. The important thing is that Lucy is out of your hands, your hands being the various law enforcement agencies fighting over her like vultures and that includes you and the rest of the DEBS. But for old times sake, and because you made my best friend happy for a little while at least before you showed your true colors I'll give you this much. She's safe and receiving the best possible care."

The menace in Scud's voice was so strong in rolled out of the phone in waves. "You hurt her. Not just physically, she'll recover from that, but you shattered her heart into a million pieces. I don't know if she'll come back from that. So, I'll give you this one warning. If I ever see you, if I hear that you are within a thousand miles of Lucy, if you make any attempt to hurt her again by seeing or contacting her in any form I will kill you. And I'll do it with a song in my heart."

"Scud, PLEASE. Please, I made a mistake but I love her." Amy stopped begging as she realized the connection had been broken. She stared at the phone as though she hoped that it might spring back to life if she looked at it hard enough. Janet carefully removed it from her shaking hand. Amy sat down, buried her face in her hands and began to cry.

(To be continued)


	2. The Search

Lost, Chapter 2 by patricia51

(The Search)

(Somewhere in Southern Europe weeks after Chapter 1)

Sometimes the D.E.B.S. uniform was a big fat pain Amy grumbled to herself as she sprinted down the cobblestone street, her pistol in hand. It looked cute and let them sort of blend in, after all, what criminal would give a second look to a bunch of prep school girls? But still. The shoes were NOT made for running in, the tie tended to catch in things at the most annoying times and she personally felt she was getting a little too old to be wearing a plaid skirt, white blouse and white knee high socks.

None of that was important. The blonde girl increased her speed, drawing closer to the gasping middle aged man reeling back and forth ahead of her. She would have caught him back at the warehouse her team had raided had not he toppled a stack of boxes over her. But she had never lost sight of him as she had struggled from under them and the chase was on.

Some might say that this chase was an example of Amy's rededication to the D.E.B.S. Some might say that this chase was a waste of time and energy, since the man she was after was at best an unimportant punk about six rungs below anyone they were really after. But it was very important to Amy. He would have been a complete nobody except that he was the liaison between this group of illegal arms dealers and the Schaffers.

After Lucy's disappearance from the hospital and Scud's phone call Amy had sat down and taken serious stock of her life and what she wanted. A piece of the puzzle had already been supplied when Mister Phipps' hologram had appeared in her room the night of Endgame. She had been touched by the big man's genuine concern for how she was doing, even tacitly acknowledging her relationship with Lucy and its collapse without condemning her for it. It had given her the courage to make an inquiry into something that had bothered her ever since Lucy had brought it up.

"Mister P. can I ask you a question?"

"Of course."

She had stammered around the subject a little, covering the other members of her squad and her own uncertainties about being a spy until she finally went for the truth.

"Why did I get a perfect score?"

Mister P. had taken off his glasses. "The test measures your ability to lie. You are a perfect liar."

"Oh."

Well that had explained a lot. It certainly had cleared up some of Scud's comments. He had used the same words "perfect liar". No wonder he had not believed she had really loved Lucy. He must have thought it was all a sham. And there was no doubt of his loyalty to Lucy, a loyalty that put hers to shame.

One troubling thought that crossed her mind was how Scud knew about the test when Lucy had indicated she didn't. Scud would never have kept information like that from Lucy. All she could think of was that it wasn't until after the shooting he had managed to penetrate the D.E.B.S. computer system. It wasn't a perfect answer but it would have to do until she could talk to Scud.

When that would be she had no idea. Janet had told her that Scud had contacted her and cut communication between the two of them. He had been sorry Janet had said through her tears but he hoped she would understand he was taking Lucy deep underground and couldn't take any chances. He cared for Janet but his first loyalty was to Lucy.

And Amy, where is your first loyalty she had questioned herself. Was it to the D.E.B.S. she had worked so hard to be perfect for? A perfect agent, not a perfect liar though damn it. Or was it to... the image of a perfect face framed by long black hair rose in her mind and stayed there. And she remembered.

She remembered pouring her heart out to Lucy about her uncertainties. And Lucy asking her a question.

"Is that what you're doing with me? Sabotaging your spy career?"

"I'm here because I feel more like me when I'm with you then I do," she recalled groping for words that expressed just what Lucy meant to her, "When I'm with me."

And then Lucy had proposed they run away to Barcelona together and it sounded like the most wonderful thing Amy had ever heard. When had she turned her back on that?

And most poignant of all she remembered laying on the bed with Lucy straddling her. A wrestling match that she had started was turning into something much more and she, they, knew it. It was the turning point of their being together. She could see Lucy looking down at her.

"Do you love me?'

And she had said yes. And it wasn't a lie.

So why wasn't she with Lucy in Barcelona and the two of them living happily ever after? Because, she frankly conceded, she was an idiot. She thought she had worked too hard to throw away all she had put into becoming a Deb. Instead she had thrown away something infinitely more precious.

So, what now? Her first instinct had been to quit the D.E.B.S., to drop out of their sight and definitely their supervision and scrutiny. But she quickly realized that would be a mistake. She need the organization, needed its resources. With them she could travel, snoop, and use informants and computer searches far beyond what she could do as an individual. She would use her ability, her gift, at lying to make sure the entire organization served her, not the other way around. She would be Miss Perfect Agent until the time was right.

Plus there was Janet. Not just someone who knew how she felt deep inside about Lucy but also as the precious possible conduit to Scud and therefore Lucy. She was sure that sooner or later Scud would resume contact with Janet. She would not use Janet, not try to get her betray Scud but she could remind and remind Janet what a fool she had been and hope that it would get back to Scud and make him soften his stance. It wasn't that she was afraid he would kill her; it was the other way around. She feared in self-defense she might hurt HIM if they ever confronted each other. And she didn't want that. She liked him and understood where he was coming from.

In the meantime she had a job to do. That job was finding Lucy. The missions she embarked on for the D.E.B.S. were only a means to that end.

When she had researched Lucy for her term paper she had of course studied her family. That study was resumed in her search for Lucy. The Reynolds Crime Syndicate had had a long and successful run until the blood feud with the Schaffers had broken out. The ten year battle had finally destroyed the Reynolds except for Lucy. But she was her father's daughter and Amy had learned she followed his ways in many things, although most of her bloody reputation was fabricated. One of those maxims was the old "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer".

So, Amy reasoned, if the Reynolds kept an eye on the Schaffers perhaps the reverse was true. Right now it was her only lead. So she ran faster, gauging the distance between her and her quarry. Any moment now she would be close enough to tackle him.

The distance became moot as the overweight man gave out and fell to the cobblestones, desperately gasping for air and clutching his chest. For a moment Amy was afraid he was having a heart attack. He wouldn't be able to answer any questions in that shape. Fortunately she realized he simply was give out. But he had enough presence of mind to zero in on the muzzle of her Beretta, which probably looked the size of a man-hole about right then.

"Please don't shoot," he begged in heavily accented English. "I do whatever you want."

Amy smiled in agreement, a smile that gave the cornered criminal no comfort. "We're just going to have a nice talk aren't we?" His head bobbed up and down. Reaching down the D.E.B.S. agent pulled him to his feet with a grunt and pushed him to a corner. Still carefully covering him she began to question him.

About ten minutes the blonde spy gave the still quivering man a boot in the butt and sent him on his way. She hurried back to the scene of the bust, slowing her rapid pace to a weary trudge and fixing a look of dismay on her face. Max took one look at her from where she was directing the local constabulary as they loaded the arrested criminals into transport vans and came over.

"He got away?"

"I'm afraid so. I tripped and couldn't catch him," Amy replied in a much louder than needed voice, carefully pitched so the remaining thugs could hear.

Amy still felt, more than ever after her shooting of Lucy, that Max may well be a borderline psychotic but that didn't stop the black girl from being a very sharp agent. She picked up on what Amy was doing and proceeded to give the other girl a serious ass-chewing that would have convinced any listener of its sincerity.

Once the prisoners were gone and the other Debs gathered Max dropped the reprimand facade.

"What did you get?"

Amy had come to terms with Max shooting Lucy, a shooting that she could hardly blame her friend for since she was the one who had hit the panic button. And even though from that night on her primary purpose was to find Lucy and reunite with her didn't mean she didn't find deep satisfaction in getting dangerous criminals off the street and into prison. It just was very nice when the two purposes ran hand in hand and today they did perfectly.

"He spilled his guts. There's a big gathering of the Schaffers in, of all places, Iceland. He didn't know exactly why but he knew it was something big. He also tipped me to a couple of smaller operations. I'll put them all in my report."

"And you let him go."

"Uh-huh. That way his compatriots over there don't know he's talked."

"Good idea," Max approved. "I'll contact the higher ups and see if they want to send us up there."

Amy kept her face calm but inside she was praying as hard as she could. For the one thing the man had told her that really reverberated with her was that during the previous time she had dropped out of sight Lucy Diamond had been at a hidden former Reynolds's facility in Reykjav k, Iceland.

(To be continued)


	3. A Gamble

Lost, Chapter 3 by patricia51

(A Gamble)

(Reykjav k, Iceland two weeks previous to Chapter 2. New Evil Lair.)

Scud was awakened from an uneasy sleep by a soft moan from the bed next to him. Groggily he struggled to sit up. His eyes jumped hopefully to the figure swaddled in the hospital bed, the monitors all emitting reassuring beeps.

"Lucy?" he whispered.

Nothing. No response. Just that simple moan. He ran his fingers through his hair as he paced up and down in the spacious room built deep under the innocuous building that had served as a bedroom last time Lucy had gone underground and now did duty as her hospital room.

What was he going to do? It had been simplicity itself for him and his mercenaries to get the drop on that swaggering bozo Bobby Matthews and his crew and then smuggle Lucy out of the country to this spot. He had the services of highly qualified doctors, patient and caring nurses and access to all the latest equipment that millions of dollars could buy. And it wasn't helping. Lucy wasn't getting better.

True she was out of danger but her regaining consciousness seemed no nearer than it had once he had got her here. The doctors thought, THOUGHT, that there was no permanent brain damage from the trauma she had suffered but when pressed they shrugged their shoulders and said they couldn't be sure. They couldn't tell when she would wake up and if she did what might be wrong. In fact, he thought bitterly, they didn't seem to know much at all.

Scud loved Lucy. Not sexually or romantically but as the best friend she had been since they were teenagers, when her father had tasked Scud to "look after Lucy". It was a task he had taken to heart; being her confidant, her advisor, her protector and most of all her friend. He had watched over her, assisting and enjoying in their escapades into crime. It was Scud in fact who had developed the image of Lucy as a bloodthirsty adversary who slaughtered her foes out of hand. She had laughed at it at first but accepted it when he pointed how it would help to keep her from actually having to become that person.

He had also been Lucy's calming influence. When something caught her fancy she tended to run with it without thinking things all the way through. He kept her out of trouble with wild ideas as best he could. But he hadn't been able to keep her out of affairs of the heart. Not that he wanted to, he accepted her sexuality and only wanted her to be happy. And, he admitted to himself, as freaked as he had been to discover her attraction to a D.E.B.S. agent, especially Miss Perfect Score Amy Bradshaw (although at that time he had not yet found out what that meant) he had really thought for a week that this was IT, this was the relationship that would make Lucy happy.

Then it all went to shit and here they were. He gave a sigh of resignation and crossed to an adjoining room and the elaborate computer console there and got to work. He would have to plant hints, vague enough to not be too obvious and yet point Amy and the D.E.B.S. in the right direction, here to Iceland. He felt that perhaps he was grasping at straws but he didn't know what else to do. Maybe he had misjudged Amy. God he hoped so.

Amy was the key. Amy was who Lucy called for when she moaned.

(Private airfield outside Reykjav k. Present time)

The Gulfstream jet pulled up to a small hanger. No particularly distinguishing marks identified the plane's true purpose. The integral stairs unfolded and Max led the other three agents off the small plane and into the building as soon as the engines died.

A representative of the local intelligence community was there to brief them. Discreetly dressed in a business suit with the hem of the skirt just above her knees the woman agent covered what was known about the gathering of the Schaffers crime family members. Amy's information had been fitted together at the CIA and NSA with other scrambled bits and pieces but the outline was still blurry.

"A few Schaffers HAVE been identified coming into the country," the woman concluded "but for what purpose we don't know. That's were you will come in." She flashed a picture of a building on the computer screen she was using as an aid. "This is the Hilton where they seem to be gathering. Your task is to conduct an infiltration to determine what their objective is here."

The agent motioned an unfamiliar Deb forward. "This is Johanna Bjornsdottir. She will get you settled and act as your liaison both to D.E.B.S. Headquarters and the local police forces."

The striking blonde woman smiled and shook hands with each of the American Debs. She led them out to an SUV and drove them into the city. Along the way she pointed out landmarks and briefed them about local customs, which included explaining her name.

"Traditionally we do not use family last names as you do. Instead our last names consist of our Father's name along with the suffix 'sone' or 'dottir' as appropriate. Nor do they change with marriage. Therefore I am Johanna; dottir, daughter, of Bjorn."

She pulled around to the side entrance to the grand hotel. "You are already registered." She handed each of them an electronic key. "Your luggage is being delivered to your rooms. Radios are already there. I suggest that you go in one at a time to avoid drawing attention to yourselves."

Max went first, followed by Dominique and then Amy. As the blonde crossed the spacious although crowded lobby she saw two or three men that she recognized from looking through the mug shots of the Schaffers' members. She nodded in satisfaction. That much the informant had told her was true.

Then another sign at the door leading into what she presumed was one of the meeting rooms caught her attention and she nearly stumbled when she stopped dead in her tracks, causing two tourists behind her to bump into her. She made profuse apologies and then started forward again, her course veering away from the elevators a bit and towards the sign. It did indeed read what she had thought at first glance.

"Diamond Show and Sale."

Oh GOD. Was this some sort of horrible coincidence? Or was it a signal of some sort? Was this what was drawing the Schaffers here? She felt her heart flutter and for a moment she felt faint. She rallied. Did this, was this, somehow a sign that Lucy was here? And if so why?

Long after Amy had managed to regain some control and make it to the elevators and the other Debs had gone to their rooms a figure slipped out from behind a large potted tree next to a pillar. Scud looked thoughtful. He thought he had his answer but before he bet on it he wanted to think it through.

Could even a perfect liar keep her composure and cover when surprised as he was sure Amy had been at the sight of the "Diamond Show"? Yes she was a trained agent but he hadn't survived as the right hand man to someone classed as a super-villainess without developing a set of instincts that had always held up when they were needed. And his instincts told him that the shock and the hope that he saw in Amy's face was real.

Not that he felt he had any choice. The doctors had told him that the best thing for Lucy was to hear a familiar voice, an IMPORTANT voice. That might make her react and help bring her out of the coma. They hadn't been able to find any actual physical problem that they could heal. Scud had thought his might be the voice but Lucy's unconscious calling for Amy had told him who his best friend needed.

He might be wrong. He shrugged. He was willing to take that chance. Maybe he could still escape with Lucy if he was wrong about Amy. If not, well, he was would take the consequences. After all, he could only serve life in prison once. Making his decision he faded back out of sight to embark upon the preparations he needed for that evening.

(That Evening)

Amy had attempted to rest for an hour or so but had done nothing but toss and turn on her bed. Finally she had got up, dressed and slipped downstairs to run a little reconnaissance on her own. What she found made her think. She avoided the Diamond Show room after noting that it didn't open until the next day.

Returning to her room she sat and thought. It was interesting. She had spotted the same Schaeffer personnel that had already been reported. No one new. And most interesting to her was that the crooks seemed to be wandering around almost aimlessly. A couple of them had had looks on their faces that could only be described as confusion.

A suspicion was growing in her mind. She wasn't ready to act on it yet but she was beginning to wonder if everything wasn't being orchestrated for someone's benefit. Had someone drawn everyone, crooks and Debs alike here for some reason? Who? Why?

She was still pondering when Max came by to get her, Dominique and Janet in tow. They conducted the same general surveillance of the hotel with the same lack of results. Max made her report and dismissed the squad until the next morning.

Knowing that she had no chance of sleeping Amy waited until she felt sure the other three girls would be asleep before going back downstairs. This time she wore street clothes instead of her D.E.B.S. outfit. She took the stairs rather than the elevator, peeking into the lobby before stealthily entering it. Taking advantage of every bit of concealment she reached the door to the conference room that was her target. Finding it unlocked she darted in, closing the door behind her.

She took out a mini-maglight and looked around. Nothing caught her attention. Covered display cases proved to be empty. There was no literature, handouts or photos. In fact except for the sign outside there was no evidence anything was going to be taking place here anytime in the near future.

Frowning slightly Amy circled the walls. She had just about given up when her exploring fingertips caught something that shouldn't have been there. In the middle of the wall, a wall that her memory of the hotel blueprints she had looked over adjoined a machinery room, was a ridge that could only be a door.

It took only a moment to open it enough to enter. Instead of the heating and cooling system that was supposed to be there the room was blank. Blank except for the stairs that led down to wherever.

"Trap!" Amy thought. But she couldn't stop herself. Trap it might be but somehow she sensed that Lucy was nearby. Screwing up her courage she slid her pistol from its concealed holster and started down the stairs. After what seemed a long time descending the steps ended in what appeared to be a big room. She knew she was way underneath the hotel by now.

Lights suddenly flared around her. She threw her free arm up to cover her eyes.

"Trap," she said aloud this time.

(To be continued)

(Recently watched the movie again and recalled when we first see Lucy's place the storyboard shows "Evil Lair". So that's where the "New Evil Lair" came from.)


	4. Discovery

Lost, Chapter 4 by patricia51

(Discovery)

The sudden bright lights may have dazzled Amy's vision but they didn't slow her trained reflexes. She drew her weapon so quickly the pistol seemed to jump into her hand from its holster concealed behind her right hip. She tensed and squinted, looking for targets and trying to determine where the most serious threat might be.

Once her vision had returned to normal she could see that there was one and only one figure in the room with her. Amy cocked her head to one side and studied the figure, her pistol aimed directly at it.

"I thought you said the next time you saw me you were going to kill me," she said as calmly as she could.

Scud shrugged, something he had found himself doing more and more lately.

"Yes well sometimes you have to change your mind about things." He studied the blonde girl. "Let me make one thing clear. I was really angry with you when we spoke last. Not just because Lucy got shot trying to see you again but because I feel like she went to see you because you had turned your back on her. She really loves you and it hurt her a lot when you left her and returned to the D.E.B.S."

He studied Amy. "I don't know everything that happened in your room. Just what was reported and no, Janet didn't tell me. I have other sources." His impassive face slipped for a moment and Amy saw the worry and the effect sleepless nights had been having on him. "But none of that matters. Only one thing matters."

"Lucy."

"Lucy." Now Scud's self-control was giving way. "I honestly don't know if you give a rat's ass about her or not. But if any of what I thought I saw between you two is real I beg you. Come with me. She's still unconscious but occasionally she says something. It's always the same. She's calling your name. She s calling for you. Please?"

Amy's heart had leaped when Scud had said Lucy loved her. It sank when he said she was still unconscious. But when he said she was calling her name she felt it flutter with happiness mixed with a fear that what she had done could never be reversed.

She holstered her pistol. "Scud, take me to her."

Lucy's right-hand man nodded. Crossing to the far wall he pulled an inconspicuous lever. With a groan the wall revolved, revealing yet another set of stairs. The pair descended, coming soon to a heavy steel door that opened with gentle pull. It clanged shut and Amy noticed the heavy clamps that could be used to secure the door.

"It looks that would be pretty hard to open from the outside if it's locked," she said, indicating the door. "Are you expecting trouble?"

"Always," Scud replied. "But more so than normal just now."

"Why?"

"First, because Lucy is incapacitated of course. Second, the danger is greater to her now because in order to get you here I had to arrange things so the D.E.B.S. would be interested in the Schaffers and to do THAT I had to lure some of that crime family's members here so you would come after them."

"You set all that up?" Amy asked in surprise and with more than a touch of respect.

"I had to. It seemed the best way to get you here. No, change that. It was the only way I could think to get you here."

"You could have just called," Amy pointed out. "If not me than Janet."

"Not without having some idea of how you would react," Scud shook his head. "For all I knew you would have rushed right over here and arrested Lucy. And she wasn't made to be in prison. I had to SEE you, see how you reacted to the suggestion that Lucy might be nearby. Were the feelings she thought you had real? Were they still there?"

"And what did you see?" Amy asked quietly.

"You DO love her."

"Yes I do."

The pair passed through another door, this one a simple swinging one that moved soundlessly on its hinges. Amy held her breath, steeling herself for her first glimpse of Lucy. Even then, the sight of the woman she knew completed her made her knees give way and she staggered for a moment. She caught herself and took a deep breath. The time for fainting was well past.

As quietly as she could she made her way to the chair beside the bed. She fought back the tears that tried to flow. Not that she was ashamed of them by any means but Lucy needed positive energy. She stooped and gently kissed the quiet cheek. Taking the hand that rested on the covers in hers she sat down and began to talk.

"I'm so sorry Lucy. I'm sorry that I let my career take the lead when it should have been you. The seven days we spent together were the happiest days of my life."

The blonde pondered for a moment. "I told you that I believed that love should be irresistible. Then it WAS when I met you and I was frightened by it. When I got back to my safe, secure world of being a deb I buried myself in it."

"You were right. I listened to my friends instead of thinking for myself. I listened to Max tell me she only wanted what was best for me instead of deciding for myself what was best. And the adult figures in my life for the last four years; instructors, Mister P, even the no longer shadowy figure of Miss Petrie all of whom were busy making allowances for me and forgiving me. I should have realized then what I know now."

Amy squeezed Lucy's hand. "I didn't and don't need forgiveness for falling in love with you. Lucy Diamond you are the most important thing in my life. Now, I came back to you. You need to come back to me."

Amy talked to Lucy for hours. In the morning when Scud slipped back into the room after catching a few hours of badly needed sleep he found Amy had moved from the chair to the bed. She was laying beside Lucy, their fingers interlocked and Amy's other arm carefully draped around Lucy's waist to hold her. For the first time in weeks Scud allowed himself to have a moment of true hope when he saw Lucy's face was relaxed and peaceful this morning.

Wishing he didn't have to do this he touched the Deb on her shoulder.

"Amy, you need to wake up."

The blonde opened her eyes but it was a moment before they focused on Scud.

"What is it?"

"It's morning and very shortly your Debs squad is going to find you're not where you're supposed to be and then they'll start looking. If you are going to get back before that happens you need to leave now."

Amy looked at Scud as though he had grown another head. "Are you crazy? I'm not leaving her. Not now that I've found her."

The henchman let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. "I'm glad, but how are you going to handle them?"

Slowly and carefully, Amy slid away from Lucy and sat up, still holding the other girl's hand. "I'm going to go see Max and resign from the Debs. She deserves to have me tell her face to face."

"Max is not one of my favorite people and I'm sure you don't need to be told why," Scud replied. "But if you think that's what you need to do than alright. A day ago I never would have said this but I trust your judgment. But be careful!"

Amy suddenly looked down. As though in agreement with Scud, Lucy's fingers had momentarily tightened where they were interlaced with hers. And for an instant Scud thought he saw the ghost of a happy smile on Lucy's still unconscious face.

Using all her skills Amy returned to the hotel proper, blending with the morning crowd as much as possible. She climbed the stairs back to the floor and crept into her room. No one was there. Hastily she made up a bundle of clothing. She looked around. Everything else would stay. Taking a deep breath she set her jaw in determination and went in search of Max.

The squad leader wasn't hard to find. She and the other two were standing outside the restaurant on the mezzanine floor. Her foot was tapping with impatience.

"You're AWOL soldier," Max stated firmly. Then looking over Amy's jeans and loose fitting top she added, "And out of uniform."

Amy shook her head. "Not anymore Max." She handed the bundle to the startled black girl. "Here is my uniform. Everything else is up in the room. The key is in the bundle."

"What are you doing?" Max sputtered in astonishment. "You can't quit!"

"Of course I can. I'm NOT in the military, I didn't enlist. I was picked for a college for goodness sake. I'm a spy, not a soldier and now I quit."

Max pulled Amy aside. Looking around she spotted an alcove and all but drug her blonde friend into it as Janet and Dominique screened them from any passersby.

"Look Amy whatever this is can be worked out I'm sure," She began soothingly, trying to defuse the situation.

"Max, what did I say to you when we first me?"

"That high protein diets are over-rated."

"After that."

"That we would always be friends."

"I said it and I meant it then and I mean it now. You'll always be my friend. But Max, you have to let me go."

Light dawned on the other girl's face. "You found her. You found Lucy."

"I know where she is, yes," admitted Amy.

"She's still a wanted fugitive," Max pointed out. "Amy, if you join with her you will be too. You're breaking a dozen Federal Statutes by being with her."

"Well eight at least," Amy agreed. "Doesn't matter. Max, I love her."

Max searched Amy's eyes. "I believe you." She sighed. "Try to keep her honest."

"I will."

"You know I'll have to report this. Miss Petrie, Bobby and everyone else will be coming after you. I'll try to misdirect them a little but that won't last."

"Don't put your career in jeopardy," admonished Amy. She hugged Max, then Dominique and Janet. To Janet she whispered "Watch your IM's." Then she was gone, melting into the crowd.

"Come on," Max wrenched her gaze from where her friend had disappeared. "We better go check in."

Other eyes had seen the meeting between the tall blonde and the Debs. After hastily checking a photograph a man hurried to a house phone. Picking it up, he was connected to a certain room. When a gruff voice answered the man spoke rapidly before hanging up and taking off in hurried but cautious pursuit of Amy.

(To be continued)


	5. Followed

Lost, Chapter 5

(Followed)

Amy wasn't stupid. Although her immediate concern was to get back to Lucy, four intensive years of training kept her subconscious aware of her surroundings. So when she neared the meeting room where the first concealed doorway was she felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up. Someone was watching her.

She walked past the entrance of the meeting room, noting that the sign proclaiming the "Diamond Show" was gone. Scud must have just had it taken down she thought. It had served its purpose, catching her attention and leading her to Lucy. No need for it now and if things were as Scud feared than now the sign would only draw in the wrong people.

She slowed her pace a little, using the windows of the gift shop to scan behind her. There he was. A heavy set man with short black hair he was being just a little too casual about his perusal of the breakfast menu at the coffee shop and his eyes kept flickering towards her. Amy made careful mental notes of his appearance and then turned her attention to losing him.

Where to go? She had to be able to keep track of him, spot anyone else he might be working with and yet at the right time get away clean. She slowed her pace slightly, letting the pursuer draw closer. When she judged the distance to be right she fixed the "Oh gosh I forgot my phone!" look on her face and abruptly reversed course.

The trailer had to almost jump to get out of her way. At the same time he looked to his left, his eyes searching. Using her peripheral vision Amy followed his line of sight. It ended at a man who could have nearly been the follower's twin brother.

So she was being double-teamed. Not a problem, except for the glaringly obvious one that she was being followed. Why? Was it because she had been identified as a Deb? Or was it someone trying to track Lucy? Or could it be for some other reason? Regardless, she had no time to play games. She needed to get back to Lucy.

She walked just a little faster, her long legs covering more ground than was apparent at a casual glance. She caught the handrail of the stairs leading back up to the mezzanine and kept a firm grip on it as she suddenly accelerated. Behind her she could sense the caught off-guard followers starting to sprint to catch up before she got out of sight on the next floor.

A quick glance confirmed they were halfway up the stairs and moving quickly. Still grasping the railing she pivoted, grabbed the brass rail with her other hand as well as hopped over the edge of the second floor. She hung for just an instant, checking where she was about to land, and then let go. Her bent knees absorbed the shock although she staggered for a moment and had to brace one hand on the floor to keep from toppling over. She was up and running before the pursuers could even get turned around.

She knew they could see her for a few seconds so she was careful to head in a direction away from the meeting room and the entrance to the underground hideout. Not completely opposite the direction, the first thing the chasers would do when they lost her trail would be to go in reverse. She veered off at an angle, an angle and direction she changed several times as she darted outside and through the parking garage before coming back into the hotel by the main entrance, the one place she knew they would never expect her to use.

Whoever "they" were, she added mentally. She slipped through the meeting room door and found the now completely closed and well concealed door to the machinery room. Scud had instructed her carefully on finding it and the one leading downstairs. By the time she was coming through the heavy security door she was hurrying.

Scud had been sitting in the chair by Lucy's bed but he had sprung to his feet at her entrance. A worried look was on his face.

"What is it?"

"Scud I was being followed," she tossed over her shoulder as she moved quickly to Lucy's side, taking the comatose woman's hand again before leaning over to kiss her cheek.

"Well I was going to ask how it went with Max and the Debs but maybe that can wait."

Amy smiled. "Max let me go." The smile faded. "She did warn me however the higher ups may not be so understanding."

"We'll deal with that when it happens," Scud answered. "More immediately, what can you tell me about your followers?"

Amy rattled off a description of both men. Scud listened carefully and muttered to himself. He left the room by another door than the one where Amy had entered, leaving it open behind him. After a few minutes he called.

"Come here for a moment Amy?"

The blonde girl stooped and kissed Lucy on the forehead. "I'll be right back sweetheart," she whispered. Going through the door she found Scud sitting in a chair nearly surrounded by computer screens. He was taping on a keyboard.

"Speaking of that," Amy remarked, indicating the vast circle of computer equipment, "you should really contact Janet. She's missed you."

"I've missed her too," Lucy's henchman said wistfully. "But the danger to Lucy was just too great. Not that I don't completely trust Janet but the Debs have some pretty sophisticated electronic snooping software. They could well have intercepted our messages even if they couldn't trace my location. It would have got her in trouble."

"Speaking of trouble, look at this," he shifted slightly in his chair, allowing Amy to come up besides him. He pointed at the screen. "Recognize them?"

She instantly does and nods. "That's them."

"I was afraid of that. They're members of the Schaffers. You've been burned Amy."

"But how? Everything about Lucy and I were very carefully hushed up by the Debs."

"Someone probably hacked the D.E.B.S. computer files. For a top-secret government organization their security sucks." Amy's hands tightened as she recalled Lucy saying almost the same thing before the shooting. She made herself relax. There would be time for more self-flagellation latter on. Scud continued, showing no sign he had seen anything of Amy's reaction "They don't have anyone as talented as me," he said in a matter-of-fact manner, "But they do have a guy who's not totally incompetent. Regardless, they obviously know all about you two. I wouldn't be surprised if they weren't looking for you before you came to Iceland."

"Why?"

"Why would they be looking for you?" asked Scud with a puzzled look on his face. "Hoping to find Lucy of course. She might be the last member of the Reynolds but she still represents a threat to the Schaffers. After all, Lucy controls a great deal of the illegal arms trade, smuggling and of course her favorite hobby, diamond thefts. DeBeers has had a reward on her for years that grows overtime she pulls another heist."

"No, why Iceland?"

"Two years ago Lucy was dumped by her then girlfriend. It was sudden, it was brutal and she didn't see it coming." Scud sighed. "Neither did I. I thought she had found love and so did she. Anyway, she took off, ran away, even from me. Oh I found her here eventually and we built this facility for her to have a safe place to recover her emotional equilibrium. We never used it for any criminal activities except to keep appraised of what was going on world wide by computer link. And it's pretty much untraceable because I used a hardwire connection to a repeater station a very long distance from here. It was the safest, most secure location I could think of to bring Lucy too once I got her out of the hospital. Only a handful of people, the medical personnel here now and the most faithful mercenaries I used to rescue her know about the place."

"Until I came here," Amy pointed out.

"A calculated risk," Scud acknowledged. "But I had to get you here. Lucy needs you and that priority over-rode any other consideration, even how I felt about you at the time."

"I'm so sorry Scud."

"I know," he said. "Water under the bridge and all that. You go sit with Lucy and talk to her while I start mustering the troops to deal with the Schaffers."

Amy was worried about the possibility of being caught in the middle of an all out underground war, especially with Lucy unconscious and helpless but as Scud had said, first things first. He could handle that end. It was her responsibility to get the woman she loved on the path to recovery. She walked quietly back into the room and exchanged nods with a nurse who was checking Lucy's vital signs.

"Anything new?' she asked hopefully.

"Pretty much the same," the nurse replied. She studied the blonde. "Are you Amy?"

"Yes."

"Good. She's not very responsive but any that she does display seems to be centered on you."

"I'm sorry it took so long for me to get here," Amy answered, her eyes fixed on Lucy. "It was a very long journey but now I'm here to stay."

"Good. I'm sure Scud told you what to do. Just talk to her. Just be close to her."

Amy nodded. The nurse finished and left the room by yet a third door. The now former Deb wasted an entire moment wondering about the layout of the complex and then dismissed the thought. She settled back onto the edge of the bed. Once more she took Lucy's hand and then brushed her other fingers across the dark-haired girl's cheek.

"You heard that didn't you? I'm sorry I took so long but now I'm here. And I'm not leaving you. The longest journey was realizing how silly and stupid I was. I love you Lucy Diamond."

No matter how long it took, Amy vowed to herself, she was NOT giving up on Lucy. She began to talk.

(To be continued)


	6. Worries

Lost, Chapter 6 by patricia51

(Worries)

(Several days latter)

"... I really, REALLY wanted you to kiss me that first night. I know I jumped up and ran away when Janet interrupted us and I tried to act all outraged and distant but I suspect you knew that a lot of that was an act. I was covering brand new feelings that I wasn't sure I was able to deal with right then. How could I be falling for another girl? One I had just met? And of all girls in the world the notorious super-villain Lucy Diamond?"

Scud stood in the doorway listening. His eyes darted back and forth from Amy to Lucy. Amy's face matched her voice, calm and soothing as though the blonde girl had no doubt the other not only could hear her but could understand her. And Lucy, Scud could almost swear the still unconscious girl really WAS listening. Her head was turned slightly towards Amy and the expression on her face hinted of attention and even interest. Could she really hear Amy? He quietly crossed and checked the monitors attached to his friend.

Heart beat and respiration were the same. But what made Scud's jaw nearly drop was the screen displaying brain wave activity. He double checked it to be sure before tiptoeing out and rushing to summon the head neurologist of the team he had hired at more money per day than they normally made in a month.

"... I thought that what I had found in the Debs was what I was searching for. Perhaps that's why I clung to it so fiercely even when I knew perfectly well what I wanted was you. Remember how I said that you should do what you were good at and you corrected me to say you should do what you loved? Well, what I love is art and whom I love is you. So you need to stop laying there while I admit everything I feel for you and shower you with compliments and we'll get out of Iceland and off to warm, sunny, beautiful Barcelona where you can rent boats to tourists and I can go to college. Deal?"

The doctor took a look at the same monitor Scud had marveled at and gave a near soundless whistle. He spun on one heel and left, only to return moments latter with other members of his team.

Amy had grown used to the procession of medical personnel passing in and out, checking things and adjusting the various devices attached to Lucy. Scud's stealthy entrance had not caught her eye either. But the sudden influx of people drew her attention. She stopped talking and clutched Lucy's hand for reassurance.

"What's wrong?"

The bustling medical people were too busy and too excited to answer her. She repeated her query, slightly louder and more demanding although still trying to keep from raising her voice too much. There still was no answer.

"What's wrong?" This time her voice cut through the chatter. The nurse Karen that had first befriended her rushed over to her, excitement written on her face.

"Nothing's wrong Amy. In fact, quite the opposite. Lucy is showing signs of increased brain activity. A LOT of it. I THOUGHT that you being here might do the trick."

"She's waking up?"

"Well not right this minute and I should leave the formal report to the doctor but it appears that she's turned the corner."

Amy hugged Karen. Closing her eyes she said "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"Don't thank me!" laughed the nurse.

"I wasn't. I was thanking God," Amy replied. "But thank you too Karen."

From across the room Scud smiled at her with tears in his eyes. Tears that Amy realized that she was matching. She called to him

"If you haven't talked to Janet yet you darn well better do it now." With a grin spreading from ear to ear Lucy's right hand man took off. Amy smiled and settled back into her chair, taking Lucy's hand again.

"That day in the bank you asked me what I had to lose and I told you 'everything'. Then we left together. I knew it; I knew that 'everything' didn't mean the Debs it meant you. So to quote an old movie 'When you realize that you want to spend the rest of your life with someone you want the rest of that life to start as soon as possible'. So wake up and let's get started."

Amy continued to talk. Every now and then over the hours that she sat there Lucy would move just a little. All of those responses, tiny as some were, encouraged her. Amy was certain that her lover could hear her now. She talked as the day gave way to night and she feel asleep in the chair still holding Lucy's hand.

Morning came and so did the squad of medical personnel. Karen shooed the weary Amy to what they all referred to as the "Lunch Room" and the blonde ex-Deb wearily complied. She grunted as she settled into a chair and picked up the menu. She had been amused the first day when Scud had shown her the place. It turned out the menu was an exact copy of the one provided for room service by the hotel above them. Meals were delivered to one of several dummy rooms and then sent down here by a secret dumbwaiter that connected the hidden lair with several of the hotel floors.

"This is an old place," Scud had told her. Although Hilton modernized it several times the original building dates before the Second World War. This place in fact was originally constructed as an underground bomb shelter. All the records were 'lost' several decades ago by direction of Lucy's father. The lair's update had been covered by the most recent hotel facelift. It had been simplicity itself for the Reynolds to divert material and labor here, covered by the work being done on the hotel. "And Hilton even paid for it all," he finished in satisfaction.

Amy had rolled her eyes and not even bothered to lecture Scud on the criminality of how that had been done. This morning all those thoughts were banished. She savored her breakfast and the steaming coffee that came along with it. Lucy was better and better and Amy just knew any hour now she would wake up and they would be together. All was right with the world. Then as she was finishing the last bites of her food Scud came in and the look on his face made her reconsider her optimism.

"Okay, what is it," she asked as he settled down in the chair on the opposite side of her table.

"It's Janet," he answered.

"Is she alright?" Amy inquired anxiously.

"She is but maybe we're not."

"Explain please."

"Some of this is guesswork." He paused for a moment to collect his thoughts. "You know that Janet and I sort of hit it off that first night and started emailing and IM'ing." At Amy's nod he went on. "I set up a very circuitous route for that chatting so I couldn't be traced. I also set up a couple of false identities to be used if ever either of us thought our communications were being compromised."

"Janet emailed me at one of those fake ID's after I contacted her. You have to read between the lines of what she sent me but this is basically what I have figured out." His face grew grim. "This time Miss Petrie is absolutely furious with you. The D.E.B.S. squad here has been ordered to hunt you down and arrest you for treason. And they're receiving reinforcements from the States including you-know-who."

"Bobby."

"Go to the head of the class."

"Max did not reveal Janet's knowledge of your involvement with Lucy prior to the pair of you being caught. Still, she suspects that they are being snooped on, that possibly their rooms and their laptops are bugged. It might be the Debs and it might be someone else."

"Who?"

"Let's face it Amy. Once you KNOW who those cute girls in their plaid skirts are it's not hard to spot them when they show up. Many people would be interested in their activities. Local gangs, international cartels, all sorts of people would wonder if the D.E.B.S. are after them. Including the Schaffers."

"So what can we do?"

"Nothing right now but try to keep an eye on everyone and everything going on above us. That will be my job. Yours remains the same." He looked Amy in the eyes. "Even when she wakes up, and all the doctors think she could any time now, it will be a while before we can safely move her. Too much jarring or just about anything and she could slide back into the coma. So we're stuck here."

Amy nodded and stood up.

"By the way," Scud put a soft leather case of the table. Amy unzipped it to find her nickel-plated Beretta. She quickly checked it to make sure it was loaded, a round was in the chamber and the safety was on.

"You think I'll need this?"

He shrugged. "As a well-known writer of military novels says 'you never need a gun until you need one badly'." He handed her a belt with a holster which she fastened around her waist before slipping the pistol in it.

"Good point," Amy noted as she stood and headed back to Lucy's room. She seated herself, shifting the pistol to a more comfortable position. As she did each time she took Lucy's hand and squeezed it. Today she nearly tipped over the chair. Without a doubt Lucy had squeezed back. Amy shot a look at the other girl's face. Her eyes were still closed and she was obviously not yet awake but a smiled curved her lips. Without thinking Amy leaned over and kissed her girlfriend and then settled back and started talking again.

"Just reminding you what, among other things, are waiting for you when you get up. Because as soon as you're able you are going to be laying right back down again. You better be up for it. Just that one time, and it interrupted in the WORST possible way, is not nearly going to be enough."

"Promises, promises."

The words were spoken so softly that for a moment Amy thought that she had imagined them. This time she DID spill her chair and her butt hit the floor. She bounced back up, never having lost her grip on Lucy's hand. But now the eyes were wide open, those beautiful brown eyes shinning up at her.

"Tell me this is real," whispered the girl on the bed. "Tell me I'm not dreaming and that you just kissed me."

Before she yelled for the doctors and nurses Amy leaned back over the bed and brought her lips to Lucy's. She stroked the still pale cheek with her free hand.

"Do you love me?" she whispered.

"Yes," sighed Lucy.

(To be continued)


	7. The Attack

Lost, Chapter 7 by patricia5

(The Attack)

Lucy was asleep. But now it was nothing more than the deep restful slumber of a very tired young woman whose body needed to continue to heal. Amy sighed happily and stretched as she stood up from her chair. For once now she could give into Scud's urging to lie down in an actual bed and sleep rather than the overstuffed recliner that had been her bed for days. But of course she had to lean over and gently kiss Lucy first.

Amy giggled. Now that Lucy was awake and on her way to recovery things were funny that only days ago would have been completely serious. Karen and one of the doctors had given her a stern lecture about finding her curled up beside Lucy on the bed every time they came by.

Okay, they were right; sometimes she bumped monitoring devices and stuff like that. However she did point out that based on their own recordings Lucy slept much more peacefully when Amy was beside her. And when you're making up for lost time with the woman of your dreams whom you nearly threw away in a fit of idiocy you don't plan to waste any more time.

Still, it wasn't as though the hospital bed was exactly as roomy and comfortable as the queen size bed they had shared in Lucy's original lair. So as gracefully as possible she had bowed to the wishes of the medical staff. She followed Scud's directions on how to get to one of the rooms the "room service meals" were delivered to from the hotel kitchens and then brought down to the underground complex.

How Scud did it all while switching rooms around on a random schedule to avoid suspicion Amy didn't know. It was sufficient for her that he did it. Well, it was sufficient that he did that, all the other things that he handled and most importantly had forgiven her and reestablished contact with Janet.

Once she reached the room by the round-about method she had been briefed on Amy realized just exactly how tired she was. She was tempted to collapse into the bed that was calling her name but instead she headed for the bathroom, shedding her clothes along the way. She thought longingly of a long soak in a bubble bath once she saw the size of the tub but in her condition she would probably fall asleep in it. Instead she turned on the shower and once the pounding water was nice and warm she climbed in the tub.

She nearly groaned at how good it felt. Then she turned and let the water drum on her aching back and she did indeed groan. All the aches and sprains and twists her body had endured while watching over Lucy seemed to bubble to the surface and wash away in the steaming water. She had showered of course during her watch over Lucy but those had been the "hop in the water, soap up, rinse off, jump out" variety. Now she was clean and feeling better physically than she had in a long time.

She wrapped herself up in a big fluffy towel and sponged the water off her hair with another before using the hotel provided hair dryer. It wasn't until she sat down on the bed she realized how exhausted she was. She managed to turn down the covers; most of them anyway, fluff a pillow and collapse. It felt so good she went to sleep immediately.

When she woke it was hours later and she felt a delicious lassitude. She dozed, drifting in and out of a half-awake half-asleep world. A world that just held her and Lucy. She snuggled under the covers. In her mind she could Lucy straddling her as she had that night, gripping her wrists firmly as Amy had struggled helplessly, and delightfully.

"Do you love me?"

"Yes."

She smiled happily, once more feeling Lucy's lips on her. Then the other girl had been sitting her up, drawing her top off and just for an instant Amy had got jealous as how expertly Lucy had unsnapped her bra. Determination to be just as deft, and certainly to avoid snapping it again, had given Amy perfect dexterity. Lucy's top was gone; she was shaking her bra down her arms and as Amy had stretched back out with a grin of satisfaction her fingers had dropped to unfasten the dark-haired girl's slacks as well.

How Lucy had got rid of those slacks and her panties Amy couldn't recall, they having just seemed to have disappeared as she frantically kicked her own down to her feet and then off just when she thought they would be stuck there forever. And then they had been in each others' arms and the whole world had been nothing more than Lucy against her and her against Lucy. Of course that had been up to the point when the Debs and Bobby dropped in but she refused to admit that scene into her thoughts now. Instead she concentrated on Lucy, kept her foremost in her thoughts.

She could FEEL the slender form of the other girl against her, her darker skin contrasting with Amy's own paleness. Her breathing grew quick and sharp, her hands and fingers became Lucy's and she began to squirm and then thrash about on the bed. It was Lucy, it was all Lucy, Lucy making love to her and Amy peaked with the orgasm she had hoped for that night.

Her eyes popped open. My God! The world had moved that time for sure. Then she realized the world actually HAD moved, or at least the hotel had shaken. A loud boom still echoed. Had someone set off a bomb?

Lucy! She had to get to her. Amy was already on her feet and dressing when the cell phone Scud had given her rang. She snatched it up with one hand and her pistol with the other.

"Yes?"

"Get down here," Scud directed. "We're under attack."

"The Schaeffers?"

"I believe so."

"What about the Debs? Any sign of them?"

"So far they're just milling around the lobby and mezzanine. They seem to be unsure of what to do."

Thoughts blazed through Amy's mind. "I have an idea. Can you hold them off? Long enough to get Lucy out?"  
>"I'm going to try," Scud promised.<p>

Amy tore out of the room and ran down the stairs. People trying to evacuate the hotel tended to leap to one side at the sight of the tall blonde girl holding a nickel-plated Beretta. The fact the muzzle was safely pointed in the air didn't seem serve to calm them Amy noted absently.

She burst through the door and her luck couldn't have been better. One group that had not lost its composure was her former team mates. Max, Janet and Dominique stood together, Max slightly in the lead and the other two girls watching the sides. All three had their guns ready.

Amy's eyes met Max's for an instant. But only for a moment for Amy needed to see someone else. And there he was. Bobby, leading a group of armed men with Miss Petrie by his side. She paused, almost willing him to look her direction. It was probably less than five seconds before he did but it seemed an eternity to Amy. But he finally saw her. His eyes opened wide and he pointed.

"There she is!"

"Get her!" shrilled Miss Petrie.

The group of agents rushed her. Amy spun around and ran for the "Diamond Exhibition" room as hard as she could with the horde of pursuers behind her.

The secret door leaned drunkenly to one side. That and the scent of plastic explosive explained the loud noise she had heard earlier. Men she recognized as Schaeffer s gathered near it, occasionally popping out into the secret corridor to fire a round or two. They gaped at the blonde girl as she ran right through them, hitting a speed dial number as she did.

"Coming down Scud!"

"Hold your fire," she heard Lucy's best friend yell and the return gunfire from his mercenaries stopped.

Trusting to her luck and the shock of her appearance Amy sprinted down the steps, passing two of Scud's men, one on either side of the doorway. Then she was through the other door and into Lucy's bedchamber where the medical personnel were frantically packing up equipment and mauvering a wheelchair to Lucy's bedside. Lucy by the way was giving directions to all concerned. Amy grinned. She had wondered how long it would take for her lover to resume her control of things around her.

"Scud?"

"In here."

Pausing only to give Lucy a hurried kiss as she was helped from her bed and into the wheelchair she followed Scud's voice into the computer room where the right hand man was leaning over the keyboard at his main console.

"How's it looking?" he asked.

"Are we ready to go?"

He nodded. "Just need some kind of diversion so we can slam that reinforced door and boogie out the escape tunnel. The equipment can stay behind. I'm about to wipe the computers and then rewrite the hard drives repeatedly until even I can't get anything out of them."

"The diversion should begin about... NOW."

From up the stairway men's panicked voices were screaming "the cops!". Overall came Max's powerful command to "drop your guns and put your hands in the air."

Amy noted that at least Max was giving the Schaeffers a chance to surrender before just opening up on them. Must have been the proximity of Miss Petrie she guessed. In any event about two seconds latter then upper hallways were filled with the sounds of gunfire so Amy supposed Max hadn't had to restrain her combat urges too long.

Over the chatter of submachine gun fire came the heavy measured booming of Max's large caliber revolver and the snarl of Dominique s Mac-10. Amy hoped that the latter was at least hitting the right room.

People flowed back through the room, including Karen who was pushing Lucy in her wheelchair.

"Go on, go on," Scud directed. "Including you too Lucy," he smiled at his best friend. "Amy and I will be along in a moment."

"You better," Lucy said to both of them.

"Less talk, more motion," quipped Karen and she and Lucy were off.

Scud glared at Amy. "I can't believe you just ran right through the Schaeffers like that. If any one of them had taken a shot..."

"But they didn't. And now they're busy with the Debs."

"Still," Scud argued.

"Hey if it's stupid but it works it's not stupid. What now?"

"Now we do this." Scud put his fingers in the corners of his mouth and whistled shrilly as he led the way to the heavy steel door at the bottom of the stairs. The two mercs at the other door loosed a few more rounds, mostly in the air Amy noted, and then rushed back to the pervious room. Scud slammed the door shit and dogged it down. Opening a panel on the wall he pulled down a heavy switch. Amy jumped when sparks flew as a powerful eclectic current welded the door shut.

"And now we go," he said with satisfaction.

"Where?"

"Out of here for starters. Then out of Iceland. And I have a place in mind for you and Lucy but that's going to be a surprise."

"Anyone ever tell you that you can be evil?"

"Well after all I AM chief henchman to Lucy Diamond criminal mastermind," Scud attempted to paste a suitably evil look on his face and failed miserably.

"Whatever."

The mercenaries were already gone. Scud grabbed Amy's hand.

"Come on. But I'll tell you this much. You'll love it."

(To be concluded)


	8. Sand, Sun and Art

Lost, Chapter 8 by patricia51

(Sand, Sun and Art)

Amy Bradshaw rolled over and grunted. She opened her eyes and squinted.

"Gosh the sun is bright," she mumbled, throwing an arm across her eyes to shade them.

"This IS the beach after all," replied the girl stretched out on the other side of the colorfully striped huge beach blanket that she shared with Amy. Unlike the blonde the dark-haired girl only cracked one eye slight open to peek. "It's also high summer so you should sort of expect bright."

"I wasn't complaining. I was just commenting."

"Uh-huh. While you were commenting and rolling over and being dazzled by the Mediterranean Sun I hope you remembered you had unfastened your top and didn't give the nearby people a show. After all, this isn't France it's Spain."

"I remembered exactly where we are and what I did with my top. And yours too for that matter. Although I was pretty darn deft if I do say so myself."

Lucy rolled over, being careful to grab the top of her own suit as she did. "Yes," she grinned, "you've come a long way since that first time when you snapped my bra when you tried to undo it."

"Much more practice since then."

"All that practice better has been with ME," Lucy mocked growled. "Just because I'm reformed now doesn't mean I don't remember what it's like to be an evil mastermind. The things I could do!"

"The things you DO indeed," Amy smiled. Not caring who might be watching she leaned over and kissed her beloved.

A soft beeping sound interrupted them. Lucy fished her phone out from the picnic hamper and looked at it. She smiled and flipped it open.

"Hey you." she paused. "Pardon me, hey you two." She looked at Amy. "It's Scud and Janet."

"Great!" Amy sat all the way up; making a frantic grab for her suit again as it nearly fell off. Blushing, she grabbed a terrycloth top and hastily pulled it on. "When are they coming to visit?" she asked, trying to act nonchalant about her second near exposure.

Lucy grinned. "They'll be here Friday." She listened a bit more, pulled up and app and made a note. "Okay, got it. See you then." She closed the phone. "I have the flight number and so forth and the names that they'll be using."

"Will they have to go through customs here? Since Janet jumped ship so to speak after Iceland the Debs will be looking for her as well and they've never given up looking for us."

"No they're coming in by boat to the Canary Islands and then flying from there. Don't worry," the former criminal mastermind reassured her girlfriend, "Scud and I did this all the time."

"And not always under the radar," pointed out the ex-Deb. "or we wouldn't have know to watch you at Les Deux Amours."

"Good thing you did though," smiled Lucy with a wink. "Seriously I thought that no one was looking for me after all that time. It was pretty careless of me. But the precautions that were taken this time around were a lot more thorough."

"I hope so."

"The only person I can think of who knows about your desire to come here and go to art school, besides Janet of course, is Max. As long as she doesn't tell I think we're safe. We have new identities and the papers to prove it." She returned her phone to her handbag, pausing to check the time as she did. "Now if you will somehow arrange yourself so no clothing falls off it's about time we headed for home."

"Is it that late?" Amy asked plaintively.

"It is if we're going to eat supper and go to bed at a decent hour. Your classes start tomorrow and there is a cruise ship docking tomorrow for two days so I need to open the shop early."

Amy sighed. The pair of girls gathered up their stuff and trudged through the sand back to the beach highway where they caught a bus back to their apartment building. From force of habit Lucy checked the area before they headed for the elevator that took them to the third floor. Satisfied that everything looked normal she led the way up. Amy unlocked the door and carefully locked it behind them. The pair quickly swept through the apartment, checking their "tells", the inconspicuous markers they set to be disturbed and let them know if anyone had invaded their place. Nothing had been disturbed.

As Lucy put things away Amy wandered through the spacious luxury apartment, marveling as she did each time that it belonged to them. Lucy promised, "cross my heart Amy really", that the money that purchased and furnished this place, allowed her to register for Art school and allowed Lucy to start her sailboat rental business was not stolen but was the result of various legitimate enterprises that Lucy's father had set up. Yes, those business had probably been originally created to launder money but the money they were making now WAS legal and enough to take care of them and Scud and Janet as well.

"Dad got the idea from watching 'The Godfather' actually. The third one I think, or maybe the second, where Michael tries to take the family business legit." Lucy looked embarrassed for a moment. "He always hoped I'd stay on the straight and narrow but until I met you I just had too much fun being bad."

Amy threw open the French doors that led out onto the balcony and stepped out to let the sea breeze blow over her. Her blonde hair streamed back and she laughed as the swirling curtains fluttered against her. Her eyes followed the sea that was so close below her she could almost reach out and touch it and she thought again how lucky she was to be here after all that had happened.

The bolt hole from the lair underneath the Reykjav k Hilton had brought her and Scud out some half mile away from the hotel, into an old abandoned building of some kind. Rolling doors were already open and vehicles of all kinds were leaving in all different directions, carrying the medical staff and the rest of Scud's mercenaries. One nondescript van is sitting with the side and driver's doors open. Lucy pokes her head out of the side door and whistles.

"Oh hey if you two don't have anything better to do you might want to get in and get us out of here."

Amy had grinned. She had to. It was nice to see Lucy back taking charge of things. She had climbed in beside her and Scud had hopped in the driver's seat. With Karen the nurse riding shotgun the doors banged shut and Scud smoothly accelerated out of the building. Amy noticed he drove neither too fast nor too slow, blending in with the traffic and staying at the same speed as the surrounding traffic.

She had to shaker her head in amazement when they arrived at their destination, the very same out-of-the-way airport where she and the Debs had arrived. It seemed like that was a completely different life now. But she was glad. Her quest had succeeded.

A private jet was waiting. As soon as the foursome had boarded the plane lifted off, bound for Great Britain. Scud explained that to avoid suspicion the flight plan had been filed several days and the jet had developed the routine of transporting passengers once a week or so to the point it was an expected and common occurrence rather than a sudden flight that might be transporting fugitives.

Once they arrived in Britain Amy was in for another surprise. Since they officially were only stopping for fuel and no one was getting off they didn't go through customs. Rather they were directed to a lounge area for through traffic passengers and crew only. They relaxed and stretched for several hours before the two man crew came out of the flight planning area and headed back for the plane.

Amy started to rise only to have Lucy lay a hand on her forearm. When the blonde looked at her girlfriend in surprise Lucy gave an almost imperceptible shake of her head. She didn't know what was going on but noticed neither Karen nor Scud had moved either. What happened next would have made her jaw drop once upon a time but apparently she was getting used to the sneaky things that happened around Lucy.

Another brown haired woman wearing a nurse's outfit pushed a dark-haired, olive skinned woman in a wheelchair. They were accompanied by a tall blonde and a non-descript guy. While none of them were twins of their group they all looked enough like Lucy, Karen and Scud and herself to pass a cursory glance. Amy watched them board the plane they had arrived in and take off.

It was another two hours before Lucy indicated with a nod that it was time for them to follow another pilot and copilot. Karen moved smoothly to Lucy's side and took her right arm. Following subtle gestures Amy took Lucy's left arm and helped her to her feet. There was a click. Two clicks in facts. Amy pressed the side of her leg against Lucy's and felt rigid tubing under the loose fitting slacks she had donned on the airplane. At some time Karen must have put on the metal braces. Then? No, it had to have been when she took Lucy to the bathroom.

It wasn't easy. It wasn't fast. But with just a little support from the other two girls Lucy walked to the airplane. It became a bit easier when Amy had a thought and whispered to the other two. All three staggered a bit and laughed a bit too loudly. Words were slurred. In short it appeared as though the trio was drunk. Scud quickly caught on and played the wearily irritated male friend or possibly big brother to perfection as he helped all three girls to the boarding ramp and on the plane.

Once inside Lucy all but collapsed on to a fold out couch. Worried, Amy knelt beside her.

"It's alright," the other girl reassured her. "I'm healed; I'm just out of shape from having laid around for weeks and weeks. I need to start working out. I'll be back to my old self before long," she promised. "You'll see."

Any shot a look at Karen, who nodded her confirmation. "Just don't let her over do things at first."

"A little laying on the beach and soaking up some sun won't hurt things either," drawled Scud.

"And where will we all doing that?" asked Amy.

"Actually 'We' won't," Scud tossed a folder to Amy and one to Lucy. "But Amanda Bradley and Lois Robins will be while I make sure Karen gets the acceptance to medical school she's been trying for, and deserving, for several years now. Oh and there's a full scholarship waiting for you once we do get you accepted Karen. Don't sweat it, consider it a done deal. I just need to finalize the details."

Karen sat there with her mouth open. "How did you know?" she finally sputtered.

"Oh please, I'm the right hand man to one of the world's greatest master criminals. You think I can't find out your dream?"

"FORMER master criminal," corrected Lucy.

"Okay former," Scud nodded agreeably.

"So what are these?" Amy asked, holding up her folder.

"Your new passports under your new names. You old ones are in the hands of the very capable foursome I sent on our previous airplane. They're on their way to Moscow where Amy Bradshaw and Lucy Diamond, a.k.a. Lucy Reynolds, will pass through customs and disappear. Good luck to anyone trying to find them."

"Scud," Lucy was almost tentative, "are we parting ways?"

"Not for good!" He seemed surprised she would even ask. "Your dad told me to take care of you. He never put a time limit on that. I need to get Karen back to the States and get her settled. Then there's a lot to do to complete what you directed me to do the night you went back to see Amy."

"Which was?" asked Amy.

Lucy looked embarrassed. "I told Scud to return all the money we've stolen over the years. Well the money and everything else, even the diamonds. I was hoping that if you knew how determined I was to go straight you'd give me another chance."

"Me give YOU a second chance?" Amy teared. "It should have been the other way around. Why you continued to try after I ran away that night is more than I can believe."

Scud rolled his eyes. "Because she loves you. And you love her too thank goodness I am happy to accept now. So we're on our way to Italy, where you two will get off. Transportation is set up to take you eventually to Barcelona, Where there's an apartment waiting, along with a car, an acceptance and scholarship to a certain art school and a thriving boat rental business just waiting for its new owner."

"The paper trail for your new identities is as flawless as I can make it. Anyone investigating either of you will be able to trace you all the way back to your births. So relax, take it easy, get to know each other again and damn it enjoy each other. There's plenty of time before school starts Amy and your business is working just fine until you get there and make it your own Lucy."

Standing on the balcony Amy smiled as she remembered. Scud had been true to his word and more. After they had been deposited in Rome there had been a first class train compartment waiting for them, which whisked them away to the cruise ship where they would spend the next two weeks. Those two weeks had seen Lucy grow stronger and stronger, returning to the vibrant young woman who had captured Amy's heart.

Along with her strength had come her determination and her insistence on having things her way. One afternoon after laying out by the pool followed by lap after lap in the cool water Amy had flung her suit to a corner of the bathroom and leaped into the shower. Just as she was rinsing her hair a cool breeze washed over her as Lucy stepped in the shower compartment with her.

"Lucy, are you sure? Karen said not to push things too far too fast... mumphhhhhh!" Lucy had stopped her mouth with a kiss.

When she came up for air the former villainess had all but glared at her blonde lover. "I am NOT made of glass. I do not shatter if you squeeze me. Now I appreciate the tenderness you have shown but if you are not willing to make love to me, no matter how much I love you I am going to find someone else!"

Amy, knowing when an argument was not only out of place but silly as hell had pushed Lucy back against the shower wall and kissed her. Before things were over water had spilled out onto the bathroom floor in large quantities and a hastily summoned platoon of housekeeping personnel had come and changed not just the soaking wet sheets and pillows but the also the mattress of the queen size bed.

Amy's musings were interrupted as a pair of arms slipped around her and a familiar chin rested on her shoulder.

"Whatever you re thinking I bet it can wait till tomorrow."

"You're right."

"Well supper is here. I bet you didn't even here the delivery guy. Let's eat and then go to bed."

"I know we have a long day tomorrow sweetheart but isn't it a bit early to go to bed?"

"I didn't say we were going to sleep."

(The End)

(While I'm sure I'll be back to Lucy and Amy this seems like a nice safe place to leave them for now, right in each other's arms where they belong. Hope you enjoyed the story.)


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